Hello! I am Shravanti Suresh, a scientist based in the bay area (yet another Indian in the bay area, I love cliches). I graduated from the Sashital lab at Iowa State University where I worked on CRISPR-Cas immune systems. At Mammoth Biosciences, I focus on characterizing CRISPR-Cas proteins for gene editing.
Outside the lab, you can find me cooking(Indian food), gardening, reading and exploring. I get my inspiration from East of Eden (by John Steinbeck), P.Sainath (People’s archives of rural India), Chicago (whose charm is irresistible), Chennai (whose heritage and Sambhar Idly I terribly miss) and, Nature (biomimicry and beaches).
I am particularly interested in science communication, developing access to science in developing nations like India and investigating policy making that influences science education.
You can say hello at - shravantisuresh at gmail dot com
Research
Bacteria are exposed to numerous bacteriophages in the natural environment and they defend themselves with the help of CRISPR-Cas systems. CRISPR-Cas systems are innate, adaptive immune systems that also serve as immunological memories of the infections that the bacteria have encountered over time. While there are 6 types of CRISPR-Cas systems and various subtypes, my research involves the systems present in E.coli(Type I-E) and B.halodurans(Type I-C). I am currently investigating the cellular aspects of Adaptation, the first step in CRISPR immunity during which sequences from the invading pathogen(Prespacers) are acquired with the help of CRISPR-associated(Cas) proteins and incorporated into the CRISPR locus present in the bacterial genome as spacer sequences. This step is also accomplished by the selective integration of the degradation products after the pathogen is eventually destroyed, thus expanding CRISPR memory(Priming). The basic idea is that if a bacterium already has a spacer sequence against an invader, it can elicit a more efficient immune response, thereby priming the system for more spacer acquisition. My research focuses on characterizing priming and its requirements in the Type I-E E.coli systems and on investigating the cellular factors/proteins required for adaptation and spacer integration in the Type I-C B.halodurans systems.
About me
Books
As the only child of my parents, books were my first friends. That sounds cliche but there’s no other way to describe it. I started with Tinkle magazines, then progressed to Enid Blyton novels and now I relish the world of Literary fiction with a soft corner for historical fiction and science non-fiction books. Click here to know what I feel about some of them and why you should or should read them (in my opinion)!
Writing
For as long as I can think, I shall read and for as long as I can read, I shall write. I dabble in writing my thoughts out, laid out for scrutiny and judgement, sometimes; and I love writing about science or what I understand of it, anyway.
Data Viz
This is one thing I never thought I would do in life, code. And yet, here I am. I’m not any good at it and I shall not hide that. I do however, love the idea of looking at something seemingly meaningless and making visual sense of it. I’m starting out now but I hope that one day, it goes hand in hand with my vision for the kind of science communication that I wish to deliver.